Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 78 Quyuanli

Facing Yan Yi's question, Xu Ran's face showed a trace of fatigue and uneasiness, and his voice was a little frustrated: "Shaojun, the progress is not very smooth. We encountered many problems during the production process."

If it were someone else, he would have just made up an excuse, but Yan Yi attached great importance to the production of the new plow, and the idea of ​​making the new plow was also proposed by Yan Yi, so he did not dare to lie.

Even now, Xu Ran still harbored a deep sense of doubt in his heart. How did Yan Yi come up with such a wonderful idea? Could this boy really be a genius?

Xu Ran felt that he had learned all the craftsmanship skills he had learned from a dog for half his life, and he felt ashamed that he was unable to make a new plow according to Yan Yi's requirements.

The three craftsmen behind him also lowered their heads with unnatural expressions, wishing they could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. The young master had already sketched out the blueprint, but they still couldn't make the new plow. It was really shameful.

If Yan Yi scolded them at this moment, they would not be surprised at all.

But Yan Yi was only slightly stunned, and the disappointment on his face turned into an expression of "as expected".

The straight-beam plow and coupled plow of this era had only four parts, while the curved-beam plow had eleven parts. The structure and craftsmanship were much more complicated and not easy to make.

Although he had drawn a rough sketch of the structure for the craftsmen to refer to based on his vague memories of his past life, he himself didn't know if there were any errors in the drawing. If these craftsmen could make a curved plow in just a few days, it would be truly incredible.

It should be noted that the curved plow appeared in history at the end of the Tang Dynasty, which is a full six hundred years ago. The production process involves various details such as material selection, ironwork, carpentry, assembly, mechanics, etc., and the production difficulty is much greater than that of the stirrup.

But no matter how difficult it is, we must try our best, because the curved plow is so important. Compared with the backward straight plow, it can greatly improve agricultural production efficiency.

"Let's go over and have a look."

Yan Yi comforted everyone with a few words and walked to the wooden table in the middle of the room. On the table were more than ten unfinished plowshares and plowshares. For the plowshares alone, samples were made of six or seven kinds of wood, including elm, jujube, and apricot.

There were more materials piled on the ground, including iron, wood, rubber, various tools such as hammers, saws and rulers, as well as the initial form of curved plow parts, such as plow walls, plow bottoms, plowshares, plow arrows, plow tips, etc.

A few rays of sunlight slanted in from the air vents high up in the house, casting mottled shadows on the materials.

"The first problem we need to solve is determining the curvature of the plow shaft. This curvature must be precise, otherwise plowing will be very difficult." Xu Ran stood beside Yan Yi and explained to him the various difficulties encountered in the production of the curved plow. "We selected seven types of wood and bent them into different curvatures using various methods such as soaking, roasting, steaming, wedging, and stacking. We then adjusted them according to the actual needs of the cultivated land. We also had to consider the impact of the plow's curvature on the firmness of the joints. If the curvature is too large, the joints will easily loosen, while if the curvature is too small, the plow's flexibility will be affected. Just determining the materials, manufacturing methods, and curvature of the plow shaft requires a considerable amount of time."

Yan Yi was secretly surprised. He didn't expect that making just one of the components would be so troublesome.

"According to the structural diagram drawn by Shaojun, the angle between the plowshare and the ground is a half-chord. However, during trial production, we found that this angle works well on soft soil, but when encountering hard, compacted soil, the plowshare is prone to slipping."

"Young Master, you're talking about adjusting the depth of the plowshare into the soil by controlling the plowshare, plowshare arrows, and plowshare stalks. We haven't figured out a suitable structure yet."

"The thickness of the plowboard has a significant impact on practical application." "We haven't yet figured out how to secure the plowshare to the plowboard. Using nails would affect the plow's flexibility, and nails rust easily, which could cause damage."

Xu Ran and the others took turns telling Yan Yi about the various difficulties they encountered, which numbered in the dozens, making Yan Yi's head buzz.

At first, he was able to come up with a few suggestions, but before he could solve one problem, more problems would come flooding in and overwhelm him.

Before Yan Yi came, he had planned to ask the foreman to improve the waterwheel, but when he saw this situation, he wisely shut his mouth.

Finally, he could only resort to the crude method of making the curved plow. He instructed Xu Ran, "The Chief of Works should immediately post a notice to recruit a large number of craftsmen. When encountering any difficulties, organize people to try them one by one until the problem is solved. Also, this matter must be kept strictly confidential, and each component must be disassembled and developed."

Xu Ran felt the seriousness in Yan Yi's tone, and a heavy feeling welled up in his heart. He thought to himself that he had to make the new plow no matter what, otherwise his position as the master craftsman would be in jeopardy.

Seeing that they were extremely busy, Yan Yi did not stay for long. He returned to the front yard, took Cao Qiu and others out of the Craftsmen's Supervisory Office, and continued his inspection.

Next, they went to the Salt Administration, the Textile Bureau and the Agriculture Administration respectively.

The Salt Administration Bureau was an official office responsible for salt administration, and was responsible for the production, transportation, and sales of salt.

The Yan family has a fixed salt field in Haiyan County and has assigned special personnel to manage the brine collection and salt frying, so Yan Yi does not need to spend energy on sea salt production for the time being. He only needs to manage the transportation and sale of salt.

Salt transportation is a very important regulatory link, so the Salt Inspectorate set up a salt transport envoy to be responsible for salt transportation.

Salt transportation involves sea, river, and land transport, and each route requires meticulous planning to ensure the safe and timely delivery of sea salt. Sometimes, checkpoints are set up along the way to prevent corrupt officials from replacing good salt with inferior salt.

Regarding the sale of salt, Yan Yi abolished the coexistence of official and private salt and began to implement a salt monopoly. Except for the Salt Supervisor, anyone was strictly prohibited from smuggling or selling private salt. Anyone who violated the salt law would be punished by being forced to work in the city for a day or even executed.

The purpose of doing so was naturally to increase fiscal revenue. After reducing the taxes levied on the people, he needed to increase revenue in other areas, and recovering the profits from private salt production was exactly what he valued.

In addition to the salt monopoly, Yan Yi also established a weaving bureau, intending to use it as a starting point to develop the handicraft industry in the jurisdiction and open up new channels for fiscal and tax revenue.

The Wucheng and Yuncheng regions have been renowned for their textile industry since ancient times, serving as a major cloth-producing center in the Jiangdong region. Yue cloth, produced here, boasts exquisite craftsmanship and quality, second only to Shu cloth. Many of the local residents were skilled weavers, their needlework skills passed down from generation to generation, making them exceptional weavers. During the heyday of Wucheng's weaving industry, the sound of looms whirring and the interweaving of warp and weft was a truly magnificent sight.

In addition, Wucheng and Yuncheng are located in the water town of Jiangnan. The fertile land and suitable climate are also very suitable for growing mulberry fields, which can provide a steady supply of raw materials for the weaving industry.

However, after Yan Baihu and Qian Tong occupied Wucheng and Yuncheng, they were not good at management and wasted this natural advantage.

(End of this chapter)